Ventura police keep the peace, deal with fights at the 2023 Ventura County Fair

It was a quiet Friday night at the Ventura County Fair until a woman rushed up to the two police sergeants strolling past the Zipper carnival ride.

She pointed across the Ventura County Fair’s midway. A fight had started.

Ventura Police Department Sgts. Mike Acquarelli and Tim Ferrill walked briskly. Running, they explained later, only brings a crowd and aggravates the conflict.

A vendor stepped away from her booth, craning her head toward Ferrill as she explained the fight was brief. It started when one group of teenage boys confronted another, calling out a gang name. Punches were thrown. The apparent instigators ran off, leaving a half-dozen juveniles vowing revenge, at least one of them cursing a bystander.

Police and county probation officers circled the area turning teens who were walking away back toward the sergeants. One of the teens was searched. A knife was found.

The officers walked the kids past the Ferris wheel toward a fairgrounds exit. They were evicted. Their night at the fair was over.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people here didn’t see a thing,” Cmdr. Rick Murray said later. “The quicker we’re on it, the quicker the problem is resolved.”

Two hours earlier, more than 25 officers clustered in a corner of the fairgrounds that serves as the police department's command center throughout the 12-day fair. Most of them were Ventura police officers on overtime carrying their usual patrol gear: tasers, batons, handguns and body cameras. Others were Ventura County sheriff’s deputies and probation and parole officers.

Outside the fairgrounds’ fence, sheriff’s deputies on horseback and utility vehicles patrolled the perimeter of the 62-acre property. In the grandstands, parking lot and throughout the grounds, guards from three private companies kept watch in security efforts revamped after $570,000 in admissions and other revenue was stolen early in the morning a year ago during the fair. A trial for three of the four men charged in the crime is set to begin later this month.

The fourth man, an alleged insider who worked for a company then contracted to run admissions at the fair, pleaded guilty to commercial burglary and other crimes. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

The high-profile theft brought renewed scrutiny on internal security. Noting the crime happened after the fair closed for the day, police officers said their job hasn’t changed.

As Acquarelli explained in the Friday night briefing held in a tent, the goal is to be seen. Take a lap around the fairgrounds, then another, he told officers. Don’t take action unless necessary. Be highly visible but with a low profile.

Moments after the briefing, the two sergeants walked past a ride that looked like a mammoth praying mantis carrying riders to nose-bleed heights, then falling in a stomach-lurching drop. It was Youth Day. Kids 12 and younger were here for free.

The sergeants handed out junior officer badges to kids. They shook hands with fairgoers who thanked them for their work. There were no signs of trouble.

Learning from the X Games at the fairgrounds

Outside the fairgrounds parking lot, at Figueroa Street and Habor Boulevard, five police motorcycles were parked in a line. Country music played at modest volumes. Traffic officers wagged fingers at cars and pedestrians, directing traffic.

The officers on patrol inside the fairgrounds work rotating shifts. But the five, sometimes six, traffic officers here work the entire fair – 12 days of 12-hour shifts. They take breaks in a trailer equipped with laptops, a microwave oven and, on this night, a bottle of tabasco sauce.

The same group worked the Strawberry Festival in May when a flood of cars headed to the fairgrounds paralyzed traffic throughout downtown Ventura.

“It was pretty frustrating,” said Sgt. Mark Knackstedt. “You’re trying to shoehorn them into a space this big.”

The international X Games, held at the site last month, was enlightening by comparison. An emphasis on offsite parking, social media messaging and reliance on trains and buses curbed most parking and traffic problems.

Lessons were learned. On this night, the parking lot was completely filled. Instead of blocking off Harbor Boulevard as they did in the past, officers followed the X Games example and allowed motorist to enter the fairgrounds. They were routed through a corner of the parking lot, back onto a surface street and then to Figueroa where they could search for offsite parking downtown.

The maneuver may have frustrated a few drivers but it was designed to keep traffic from backing up far down Harbor Boulevard.

Memories of the Ventura County Fair bungee jump incident

Inside the fairgrounds, things were quiet enough for a jog down memory lane. Acquarelli, who has worked 15 fairs, remembered the night six years ago when the bungee jump malfunctioned, leaving a man dangling 30 feet in the air for 20 minutes. He was not injured.

Ferrill has worked more than a dozen fairs. He has never ridden the spinning, flipping Zipper. It’s a streak that will continue.

“My life is risk adverse enough,” he said.

The quiet ended at about 8:30 p.m. when the fight broke out on the midway. Police officers quietly formed a semi-circle around the scene, keeping things in check. As they shepherded the juveniles off the grounds, another fight broke out, this time near the fair’s Main Street. A teenager was handcuffed and brought to the command center.

A couple of more fights emerged. By night’s end, two juveniles were arrested on misdemeanors, one for suspicion public fighting, one for suspicion of assaulting an officer.

Murray called the night a success, noting that once the incidents were handled no other issues emerged. When adults are involved in brief fights, alcohol is often involved. He attributed the conflicts Friday night to “juvenile activity.”

“That was probably the busiest night we’ve had,” he said.

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County Fair fights dealt with by police officers